For Ubuntu users switching to Fedora, or vice versa, anyone needs a
comparison of both common package manager commands. The goal is
the user knows that "dnf install" in Fedora is equal to "apt-get
install" in Ubuntu and so on. This article compares common use such as
sync, install, remove, upgrade, and repolist; plus config files and further references. Here this article provides that
comparison in a simple format.

1. Get Repo Index

A "repo index" is a list of all packages available in a distro repository. In other words, it's a "map" listing the details of all packages inside a repo. Ubuntu/Fedora and some distros called this "update" (although it's rather confusing), another ones called this "sync". Anyway, without this, a package manager doesn't know where/what to download.

Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get update

Fedora

$ sudo dnf check-update

2. Search a Package

User can search for a package after
the package manager gets the repo index. For example, you want to know
what image editor available on the repo, then just search it.

Ubuntu

$ apt-cache search "image editor"

Fedora

$ dnf -C search "image editor"

3. Show Info of a Package

User can read the detailed info of a package such as name, version, size, description, and so on.

Ubuntu

$ apt-cache show <package_name>

Fedora

$ dnf -C info <package_name>

4. Show Package Location on Repo

User can see in what repo a package belong, at what version, and what status is it (installed/available) in the system.

Ubuntu

$ apt-cache policy <package_name>

Fedora

$ dnf -C list <package_name>

5. Remove a Package

To uninstall package, dnf and apt share the same command 'remove'.

Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get remove <package_name>

Fedora

$ sudo dnf remove <package_name>

6. Upgrade Installed Packages

User can upgrade all installed packages in one command.

Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Fedora

$ sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

7. Clean Downloaded Packages

User can delete downloaded packages from package cache directory. This is useful when the cache goes larger and eats your HDD space.

Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get clean

Fedora

$ sudo dnf clean

8. Download Only, No Install

User can choose not to install, but only download package. APT will download .deb packages, while DNF will download .rpm. The package files downloaded will go to package cache. In Ubuntu, it's /var/cache/apt/archives/ and in Fedora it's /var/cache/dnf/{repo-name}/packages/.

Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get install --download-only <package_name>

Fedora

$ sudo dnf install --downloadonly <package_name>

9. List Installed Packages

User can see all installed packages (or filter them with grep) on the system. For this case Ubuntu uses DPKG instead of APT. For example, you can start looking all packages have "gnu" on their names.

Ubuntu

$ dpkg -l
$ dpkg -l | grep -i gnu

Fedora

$ dnf -C list
$ dnf -C list | grep -i gnu

10. List All Repos

Ubuntu stores its repo list at
/etc/apt/sources.list file, while Fedora stores it at /etc/yum.repos.d/
directory. To reveal each own repo list:

Ubuntu

$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list

Fedora

$ dnf -C repolist

11. Disable a Repo

User can disable a repo being used in their system.

Ubuntu

Write manually a '#' (hash) character on the beginning of line of a repo address in sources.list. There is no APT command for this.

Fedora

$ sudo dnf repo --disablerepo <repo_name>

Important Files

For both APT and DNF, Ubuntu and Fedora, there are some directories and files important for their package managements. User makes any configuration or store the packages downloaded there.